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Of all educators, I've often believed that librarians get the short shrift. Few people ever appreciate the wealth of knowledge, bibliographic skill and sheer patience of the librarian.

Instead, patrons tend to pester them with such mundane - if not foolish - questions as: "Do you have a list of all the books I've ever read?" "Is the basement upstairs?" And, my personal favorite, "Do you have anything good to read?" To which the frustrated librarian replied: "No, sir. I'm afraid we have 75,000 books, and they're all duds."

In fact, librarians were always indispensable to the practical and intellectual education of the larger society, especially during the 19th century. In the Wyoming Valley, there was no greater champion of public enlightenment than Hannah Packard James, the first head of the Osterhout Free Library in Wilkes-Barre, one of the first free libraries in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Between 1887 and 1903, James initiated an extensive collection of books, organized the library, edited a newsletter and endorsed several educational reform movements that significantly enhanced the region's cultural life. In the process, James made the Osterhout Library a "sanctum sanctorum" where every book was a treasure and the very atmosphere inspired life-long learning.

The librarianship can be traced to the eighth century when Ashurbanipal, King of Assyria, employed a "keeper of the books" to catalogue and arrange the thousands of literary texts, histories and laws at his palace in Ninevah, Mesopotamia.

The role of "lending" librarian emerged during the Roman Empire when aristocrats began sharing scrolls in their collections with others who lacked the means to have their own libraries. The development of the librarianship continued in the Christian monasteries of the Middle Ages where monks copied out religious tracts by hand, cover to cover, and then took inventory by cataloguing and classifying them.

With the creation of the "Bibliotheca Universalis" in late 17th century France, libraries became less selective in their content and more accessible to the public. These changes demanded the first steps toward professionalization. As the 18th century unfolded, the librarian was paid a livable wage, and given specific responsibilities, such as caring for and cataloguing books as well as performing outreach to the general public regardless of wealth or education.

By the mid-19th century, librarians, both in the United States and in Europe, were considered scholars, not simply custodians of the library in which they worked. While there was no formal training for the librarianship, it was not uncommon practice for experienced librarians to recruit individuals and train them under close observation.

Hannah Packard James, a socially conscious and well-educated New Englander, entered the librarianship during this time. Whatever professional training she received came at the Boston Athenaeum, a private dues-paying library. In 1870, she was hired as head of the Free Library at Newton, Mass. Over the next 17 years, she would distinguish herself as one of the guiding lights in her field.

When schools for the training of librarians opened in the mid-1870s, James became one of the most popular lecturers across New England. She also played an instrumental role in having the schools accredited by the American Library Association. James was in the forefront of standardizing the profession. Her theories on cataloguing and popular reading were so insightful they were integrated into the U.S. Office of Education's training manual, "Public Libraries in the United States of America: Their History, Condition, and Management."

By the mid-1880s, James' reputation preceded her among university and public librarians along the eastern seaboard. Not surprisingly, she was selected to head a brand new library at Wilkes-Barre in April 1887. Funding for the endeavor came from the prominent merchant and real estate magnate Isaac Smith Osterhout, who bequeathed part of his fortune to a board of trustees with instructions that they build a free public library in the Wyoming Valley.

The board hired Melvil Dewey, creator of the Dewey Decimal System, to act as an adviser. Dewey recommended the board buy the vacant First Presbyterian Church, which had been built in 1849, and use it for approximately 10 years until permanent arrangements could be made. He also suggested that the trustees hire James to be the first head librarian.

The Gothic architecture of the church, its large fireplace and oak woodwork proved quite suitable for a public library, and the arrangement became permanent. James proved to be just as indispensable.

She was a whirlwind of creative ideas that knew no end. Along with five female assistants, James undertook the enormous task of organizing and preparing the library for its grand opening on Jan. 29, 1889. It was no small task.

The library's original collection consisted of approximately 10,000 volumes. Most of the books were purchased from publisher Charles Scribner and Sons and the balance came from Isaac Osterhout's personal collection and a local subscription library.

At James's insistence, most of the volumes were non-fiction. She believed that fiction "weakened the ability of the mind to absorb useful knowledge." In the anthracite region, where few people enjoyed a formal education, non-fiction was much more useful in promoting the mission of a library, which often introduced readers to a topic of interest and encouraged them pursue their own study of it through the reading of additional volumes.

Among the earliest acquisitions were a 10-volume set of "The Works of Benjamin Franklin," which reflected the industrial character of the anthracite region and promoted the virtues of hard work and personal industry as keys to professional success. Other volumes included periodicals on mining, steam engines and electricity.

To inform the community of recent acquisitions, James edited the "Library News-Letter," which carried book reviews, historical essays, advertisements and an occasional editorial often pertaining to James's own reform interests. At a cost of 50 cents, the "News-Letter" was affordable among a small but growing middle-class who were initially the Osterhout's most devoted patrons.

To be sure, James did not ignore the educational needs of the working-class, especially their children. She viewed Wilkes-Barre as "unenlightened" and supported her claim by citing the appalling rates of students who dropped out of school. In 1892, for example, there were a total of 6,020 students in the city's schools. Of that number, 3,128 or 52 percent dropped out before reaching the sixth grade and approximately one-third of these pupils dropped out after second grade headed for the mines as breaker boys.

James was determined to rectify the issue by instilling a love of reading in youngsters. Since the Wilkes-Barre School Board appropriated little funding for books, she loaned juvenile literature to the teachers, who in turn loaned the books to their students. After the initial year of this effort, James proudly reported that a total of 2,029 books had been signed out by some 80 teachers in the school district, and that most of these volumes found their way into homes "that never saw a library book before."

In addition, James established an annual essay contest for school pupils aimed "to create a love of study and a desire to know" among youngsters. The winner received an award of five dollars in gold.

Hoping that working class parents would set good examples for their children, James's outreach efforts extended to Wilkes-Barre's low income neighborhoods. She established "Reading Rooms" in these neighborhoods as a more wholesome retreat than the local tavern.

Reading Rooms were open free of charge to both men and women, and served as branch libraries where books could be borrowed and returned by the residents. Often located in private homes, the first Reading Room opened on Jan. 24, 1894, at 128 Bowman St. in Wilkes-Barre's East End section. Unfortunately, the experiment failed within five years due to a lack of financial support. But James refused to become discouraged.

Instead, she embarked on a "University Extension" program where she visited college professors and would deliver a series of lectures at the local YMCA. A few weeks prior to each lecture, James made available recommended books on the subject to be discussed. After the lecture, she organized an informal discussion between the lecturing professor and those who attended the talk.

James was also a highly respected social reformer. Her causes included: the Boys Industrial Association, created by Ellen Webster Palmer in 1891 to meet the educational and recreational needs of working boys; the Free Kindergarten Association, which offered children of the poor beneficial instruction at the most formative stage of their lives, and the Town Improvement Society, created by Edith Brower in 1895 to clean and beautify the roads, sidewalks and unkempt properties of Wilkes-Barre.

Illness forced Hannah James to retire in 1902. She died on April 20 the following year. She is buried in her hometown of Norwell, Mass.

William Kashatus teaches history at Luzerne County Community College. He can be contacted at Bkashatus@luzerne.edu.

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